Abstract
This research project explored the impact of seven teachers’ life experiences on their core beliefs about educationally just teaching philosophy and practices. Results of a qualitative, phenomenological case study yielded six themes, each revealing particular connections between teachers’ life experiences and their beliefs about educational justice. The research was conducted at high-school sites within programs designed to foster educational opportunities for students not academically succeeding within their respective institutions. Results were based on extensive interviews and classroom observations. The work is grounded in educational justice scholarship and has particular significance for teachers who work with disenfranchised student populations
Highlights
A core thread of teacher-education scholarship focuses on teacher beliefs as they underpin classroom practices related to tenets of educational justice (Colucci, 2000; Delpit, 1996; hooks, 1994; Palmer, 1998; Strong-Wilson, 2008; Warren, 2002)
Teacher’s belief systems about social justice are shaped, assessed and implemented in diverse educational contexts; the particular teachers featured in this study show us the significance of their own life experiences as these beliefs are shaped in particular ways for the students in the AVID program
The study has taken educational justice theory, applied qualitative research methodology specific to case study research, and as a result has authentically rendered a picture of how the life stories and beliefs of AVID teachers have informed their classroom practices, influencing them to create more educationally just classroom contexts
Summary
A core thread of teacher-education scholarship focuses on teacher beliefs as they underpin classroom practices related to tenets of educational justice (Colucci, 2000; Delpit, 1996; hooks, 1994; Palmer, 1998; Strong-Wilson, 2008; Warren, 2002). The case-study research project reveals insight about how teachers’ life stories shape their beliefs about educational justice as they work with students in the AVID program (Advancement Through Individual Determination). Enterline et al (2008) set the goal of sensitizing teacher candidates to the importance of social justice principles alongside another prevailing trend of ensuring assessment outcomes, saying that, “it is assumed that the bottom line of teaching is enhancing students’ learning and their life chances by challenging the inequities of school and society” Some time back, Pajaras (1992) wrote that “the belief structures of teachers and teaching candidates is essential to improving
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